Draft rigging



May 24, 1938.` w. w. BRINKLEY DRAFT RIGGINGv Filed July 2, 1955 Patented May 24, 1938 FATENT @E'Fti DRAFT RIGGING William Watson Brinkley, Roanoke, Va., assigner of twenty-four percent to E. Lee Trinkle, Jr. and ten percent to Clarence M. Trinkle, Jr.,

both of Roanoke, Va.

application July 2, 1935, sei-iai No. 29,543

2 Claims.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements draft rigging for railway cars or the like and has for its principal object the provision of novel means to create a flexible movement between a locomotive and the adjacent cars, regardless of the number of cars coupled together to completely eliminate damaging impacts, shocks, or any form of rough handling, which is normally motivated by uncontrollable slack action and in carrying forward this object provide a direct connection between the end sill or other stationary part oi a car and an associated slidable draw bar shank to control the yy draft gear spring resiliency and in turn to insure a uniform or flexible movement of the car or cars which are placed in motion by the locomotive or other source of energy.

.fis a further object of the invention I provide a resilient connection between the end sill or other stationary part of the car and the Slidable bar shank associated therewith, one end of the resilient connection being secured to the sill or other stationary part oi the car while opposite end is secured to the slidable draw shank.

ther object of the invention resides in the p ision of for the purpose set forth which may be installed in types of cars now comnonly without dismantling any of the present equipment.

With the above and other objects in View, which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention consists in the novel details of cci truction arrangement of parts, described i1 the following speciiication and illustrated in e accompanying drawing, and while I have il- "ated and described the preferred embodies of the invention, as they now appear to will be understood that such changes may be as will fall within the scope of the pended claims.

i top plan with parts broken away arts illustrated in horizontal section.

, 2 is a side elevation with parts broken and parts shown in vertical section; and

g. 3 is a iragmental section on the line 3-3 of Fig. l.

In the well-known forms of draft rigging now commonly used in railway car construction or the like a draft gear spring is used for the purpose of absorbing shock and to lessen or cushion the impacts that occur under the train handling. However, even with the use of a draft gear spring considerable shocks and jars occur because of (Cl. Z13- 40) uncontrolllable slack and it is to overcome this uncontrollable slack and to prevent jars and shocks that I provide novel means to control the draft gear spring resiliency thereby insuring a uniform or flexible movement of the car or cars which are placed in movement by the locomotive or othersource of energy. To accomplish this I provide a resilient member having one end secured to the end sill or other stationary part f the railway car while the opposite end is Secured directly to the slidable draw bar shank. 'I'his resilient member has a tendency to at all times so position the car, with respect to the draw bars, as to prevent any impacts which would cause jar or shock or in other words to balance the position of the car between the draw bar heads at opposite ends of the car. At the present, and in the past, considerable damage has been done to both the railway car equipment aS well as the contents of the car due to the un controllable slack between the adjacent cars or locomotive which result in heavy impacts which cause shocks and jars. With the use of my invention I have found that any locomotive, and the lnumber of cars attached thereto, may be moved under any and all normal conditions or circumstances entirely free of impacts, shocks, etc., and the entire train is maintained as a flexible unit whereby the locomotive and last car are started, controlled and stopped simultaneously.

In the drawing I have illustrated one wellknown form of draft rigging with my improvements associated therewith and it will be understood that the construction will be duplicated at opposite ends of the car. In the construction shown l indicate the longitudinally extending draft sills, secured to the car body in well-known manner, and forming a part thereof, having the longitudinally spaced elongated openings 2, il and 4 in which operate the cross keys 5, 6 and 1, the cross key 5 being carried by the draw bar shank 3, the key 6 by the forward follower 9 and the key 'l by the rear follower lil. The usual coupling head ll is formed on the outer end of the draw bar shank 8 while the inner end of this shank normally bears against the forward end of the follower 9 as shown more particularly in Fig. 1 of the drawing. A draft gear spring l2 is positioned between the followers 9 and l0 to normally hold them in the positions shown in Fig. 1. At I3 I have illustrated connecting links, which act in the same manner as a yoke member, having at their forward ends openings to receive the cross key 5, these openings being of a length equal to the width of the cross key. The links are further provided with the elongated openings I4 and I5 to receive the ends of the keys 6 and I respectively as shown more particularly in Fig. 1. As previously stated, the construction so far described is well-known and as the draw bar shank 8 is mov-ed forwardly the cross key 5 will draw on the'links I3 and cause the cross key 1 to be moved forward with its follower I0 to compress the draft gear spring I2 between the followers 9 and I0. This will take up shock in a forward direction. When the draw bar shank 8 is moved rearwardly the cross key 5 will be moved'rearwardly in the elongated opening 2 and through means of the links I3 move the cross key 6 rearwardly in the elongated openings 3 to cause the follower 9 to be moved rearwardly while the follower |I| is held stationary. The movement will cause the draft gear spring I2 to be compressed and take up shocks in a rearward direction.

My invention or improvements consist in a bracket I6 secured to the end sill |I of a car by means ofthe nuts and bolts I8, the bracket I9 secured to the draw bar shank 8 by the screws 2B or other suitable fastenings, and the coiled spring 2| interposed between the brackets I 6 and I9 with the forward end of the spring secured to the bracket I6 while the rear end of the spring, is secured to the bracket I9. In the drawing I have illustrated a cylindrical member 22, received within the spring 2| to prevent buckling of the spring, but it will be understood that the cylinder may be eliminated without in any way effecting the invention. It will thus be seen that the coiled spring 2| is connected directly to the end sill forming a part of a car while the opposite end is secured to the draw bar shank. The coiled spring 2| controls the draft gear spring resiliency, in a manner to be described, to insure a uniform or flexible movement of the car Vor cars and to prevent damaging impacts, shocks, etc. While I have illustrated one end of the spring 2| secured to the, bracket I 6, secured to the end sill |'I forming a part of the car, it will be understood that this end of the spring could be connected to other stationary parts of the car frame or body and the same results obtained.

With the above detailed description I will now endeavor to more clearly bring out the operation of my improvements. It can be readily appreciated that the draft gear sp-rings while tending to take up slack would notprevent damaging impacts of the parts, because the speed and weight of individual cars in the train is not'controlled by the draft gear springs under certain and numerous operating conditions, due to the fact that through the coupling II the draw bar shank 8 is drawn to move the car to which the draft rigging is connected and permits the draft gear springs to function separately from the car. In other words, the present draw bar connection and draft gear attachment is an indirect connection relative to the position of the draft gear springs to control the speed and weight of individual cars, consequently these springs are free to move in their normal state which is in the direction of the least resistance and thereby accelerate the movement of the car and this uncontrollable slack action gains momentum as it travels throughout the train and contributes to the violence of the impacts. It can readily Ybe seen that my invention provides a coiled spring 2| at each end of the car, fastened at one end to the bracket |6 which is secured to the end sill II, forming a stationary part of the car, while the opposite end is fastened to bracket I9 which is secured to the slidable draw bar shank. The compression and expansion of the coiled spring 2| depends entirely upon the relative movement of the draw bar shank and the resiliency in coiled spring 2| acts constantly upon the resiliency of the draft gear spring I2 which keeps this spring normal or restores it to its normal position in a gradual way and entirely free of shocks, jars, etc. It will also be seen that my method of attachment establishes a direct connection between the car itself and the slidable draw bar shank to which is connected the draft rigging to make the movement of the car possible and that my method of attachment further provides that during any acceleration of the car that the coiled spring 2| responds instantaneously and forces the draft gear spring to its normal position in a direction opposite to the normal movement thereof and this control of the draft gear spring resiliency maintains the weight and speed of each car throughout the length of the train, consequently the cause for uncontrollable slack action has been entirely eliminated. More specifically assuming that the train is moving forwardly it will be Yseen that through the coupling the draw bar shank will be drawn forwardly to move the car to which the draft rigging is connected and in this movement the coiled spring 2| will be compressed between the end of the car and the bracket I 9 secured to and carried by the: draw bar 8. During the normal Ymovement of the train there will be, of course, no impacts but when the movement of the car is accelerated relative to the draw bar Shanks Such as when stopping the train, or when going down hill the car will have a movement relative to the draw bar shank and unless my improvements were provided there will be impacts between the parts such as the engagement ofthe coupling head with the rigging, the engagement of the cross keys with the ends of their respective slots, etc. With my improvements when the movement of the car is accelerated with respect to the draw bar shank the coiled spring 2|, which has been previously compressed, will expand to its normal position and then further movement of the car relative to the draw bar shank will further expand the spring and this expansion will have a tendency to draw the car rearwardly with respect to the draw bar shank and coupling head to restore the parts to their normal position without damaging impacts, shocks, etc. In this movement the corresponding parts of the rigging at the opposite end of the car will be operated and the coiled spring 2| at the opposite end of the car will be compressed with a tendency to expand to move the car rearwardly to assume its normal balanced position betweenV the coupling heads. Assuming that the train is being backed the draw bar shank 8 will be moved rearwardly and the coiledspring'ZI, at one end of the car, will be expanded. The tendency of the coiled spring will be to return toits normal unexpanded position and this will draw the car rearwardly to prevent impacts with the coupling head and other parts. In this movement the spring 2|, at the opposite end of the car, will bel expanded and tend to draw the car to a balanced position between the coupling heads of the draw bars. It will be seen that I have provided flex-V ible connections independent of the draft gear spring to balance a car to prevent shocks ork impacts such as would damage parts of the car or the contents thereof.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent isz- 1. A draft rigging including longitudinally extending transversely spaced side sills, an end sill, a draw bar, longitudinally spaced followers positioned between the side sills, a draft gear spring interposed between the followers, and an auxiliary spring having one end connected to the draw bar and the opposite end connected to the end sill.

2. A draft rigging including longitudinally extending transversely spaced side sills, an end sill, a draw bar, longitudinally spaced followers positioned between the side sills, a draft gear spring interposed between the followers, and an auxiliary spring extending parallel with the draw bar and having one end secured to said draw vbar and the opposite end connected to the end sill.

WILLIAM WATSON BRINKLEY. 

